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Istanbul Hands Over '1001 Inventions' Exhibition to New York City

The joy of Hezarfen's historic 17th-century flight over Istanbul was recreated in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square on Friday 1st October 2010 as the "1001 Inventions" exhibition said goodbye to Turkey.

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The joy of Hezarfen's historic 17th-century flight over Istanbul was recreated in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square on Friday 1st October 2010 as the "1001 Inventions" exhibition said goodbye to Turkey. The unique event was attended by the Mayor of Istanbul and dozens of VIPs from around the country, and took place as part a Gala Event during which a representative of the Turkish Prime Minister officially handed the exhibition over to the President of New York's Hall of Science, which will be the next venue on the global tour.

(Left to Right) Prof. Bekir Karliga, Advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister, Dr. Margaret Honey, President of The New York Hall of Science, Professor Salim T S Al-Hassani (Chairman of FSTC), completing the symbolic handover of the exhibition.The exhibition finished its record-breaking residency at the Science Museum in London where it received more than 400,000 visitors, including the Turkish Prime Minister on his state visit to the UK in March 2010. The Turkish Prime Minister personally invited 1001 Inventions to exhibit in Turkey. Istanbul became the first venue of the exhibition's five-year international tour.

The grand event organised in the heart of Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square on October 1st, 2010 was meant to mark the last phase of the Istanbul stop of the British Global Initiative "1001 Inventions". The highlight of the Gala Event was the "Hezarfen Adventure", an astounding visitor attraction installed in Sultanahmet Square by the "1001 Inventions" initiative, which allowed participants to experience the historic city of Istanbul from a height of 70 metres (230 ft) on a sky lift. The bird's eye view offered visitors the chance to see the city from a similar height to that experienced by Hezarfen Ahmed Celebi when he launched his flying machine over Istanbul almost 400 years ago.

The "1001 Inventions" global touring exhibition, sponsored by the Jameel Foundation, broke all attendance records when it was first launched at London's Science Museum, where it attracted more than 400,000 visitors over a period of five months. However, the exhibition's first international residency, in the historic city of Istanbul, was at least as successful as 400,000 visitors experienced the "1001 Inventions" interactive experience in person during a period of just eleven weeks.

Friday's Gala Event celebrated this success and also served as an opportunity to conduct an official handover of the exhibition from the city of Istanbul to the city of New York, USA. The ceremonial handover was carried out by Professor Salim TS Al-Hassani, Chairman of FSTC and of "1001 Inventions Ltd", and Professor Bekir Karliga, Advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister, who passed a reproduction of Master Engineer Al-Jazari's Scribe Clock to Dr. Margaret Honey, President of the New York Hall of Science.

The 1001 Inventions exhibition will end the Istanbul leg of its global tour on the 5th of October 2010, after an eleven week residency in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square following a launch ceremony conducted by Turkish Prime Minister, His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The North American segment of the 1001 Inventions global tour is expected to begin at New York's Hall of Science in the first week of December 2010.